It's that time again when all the staff run away and hide for Christmas!
Today is the very last day you can chat with a librarian at the Library Help Desk, so if you have any research questions or referencing quandries that absolutely cannot wait until the new year, now is your last chance! The Library Help Desk closes at 3 pm, and Library staff continue to staff the online chat service until 4.50 pm, but after that we will be handing over to our out-of-hours team (who are still professional librarians we have briefed) until we return on Monday 5 January 2026.
What happens after Christmas?
Staff return from Monday 5 January
Staff are back and all our services re-open from Monday 5 January 2026. We will check everything you were told over chat during the vacation and plough through all our emails, but the mountainous pile of communications we usually receive means it often takes slightly longer than usual for us to respond in early January. We strive to answer everything received over the holiday by the end of the first Tuesday back, but please bear with us if that proves impossible. We really are trying to get to your urgent missive as soon as possible!
24/7 Library opening resumes from Monday 12 January
The Library will be open 24/7 from 8 am on Monday 12 January 2026 until the end of the examination and assessment period in the Summer. While we will be open every day from 5 January onwards, please check our opening hours before travelling in to avoid disappointment.
Wrap up warmly
We always seem to have some luckless soul shivering in the cold at one minute past midnight the day before - we only open at 8 am, so please aim to get here no earlier than that - it is going to be early January. Early January in England is often bright, crisp, and bitterly cold, so make sure there is a lovely warm library open at the end of your journey and make sure you stay properly fed and hydrated (this really helps you feel warmer) and wrap warmly in layers that help keep out the often brisk wind that can otherwise steal away your precious body heat.
Walk with care
This is also the season for ice, including treacherously invisible 'black ice' - the product of many people sliding over a patch of very thin ice until it is polished smooth as a mirror and becomes dreadfully slippery and transparent, so it is often impossible to see. Any ground can be slippery, but any patches that appear suspiciously free of ice and snow are best avoided because these tend to conceal patches of treacherous black ice.